Image of the Moho across the continent-ocean transition, US east coast

Journal Article · Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1992 · Geology; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1992)020<0203:IOTMAT>2.3.CO;2· OSTI ID:6951961

Holbrook, W S; Purdy, G M ^[1]; Reiter, E C; Toksoez, M N ^[2]

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1. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MA (United States)
2. Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge (United States)

Strong wide-angle reflections from the Moho were recorded by ocean-bottom seismic instruments during the 1988 Carolina Trough multichannel seismic experiment, in an area where the Moho is difficult to detect with vertical-incidence seismic data. Prestack depth migration of these reflections has enabled the construction of a seismic image of the Moho across the continent-ocean transition of a sedimented passive margin. The Moho rises across the margin at a slope of 10{degree}-12{degree}, from a depth of about 33 km beneath the continental shelf to 20 km beneath the outer rise. This zone of crustal thinning defines a distinct, 60-70-km-wide continent-ocean transition zone. The authors interpret the Moho in the Carolina Trough as a Jurassic feature, formed by magmatic intrusion and underplating during the rifting of Pangea.

• OSTI ID: 6951961
• Journal Information: Geology; (United States), Vol. 20:3; ISSN 0091-7613
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
OCEANIC CRUST
SEISMIC SURVEYS
PLATE TECTONICS
GEOLOGIC MODELS
ATLANTIC OCEAN
JURASSIC PERIOD
RIFT ZONES
US EAST COAST
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
EARTH CRUST
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
MESOZOIC ERA
NORTH AMERICA
SEAS
SURFACE WATERS
SURVEYS
TECTONICS
USA
580000* - Geosciences